Question My Windows Install has no boot loader because it was on another drive that has been removed. How can I make this drive bootable?

[techjohn]

So I had multiple SSD drives each with a different install of an OS. (Windows 10, and two copies of Windows 11) Each time I wanted a fresh install I bought a new M2 and added it to the machine with a freshly purchased copy of Windows.

I removed an older M2 after I knew it was no longer needed and now my existing copy of Windows 11 has no way to boot even when I select it in the bios.

I've tried repair, but it doesn't work. I'm guessing its because it never had a bootable partition on this drive.

Can someone please tell me how I make my Windows install bootable?

Can you just create a fresh boot menu/loader?

thank you so much

 

[Colif]

Do you happen to know if your PC used Legacy or UEFI boot method? was drive MBR or GPT?

one way to to tell is to boot off the installer usb,
Boot from installer

On screen after language choice, pick repair pc, not install

1. Pick troubleshoot
2. Pick advanced
3. Pick Command Prompt
4. Type diskpart and press enter
5. Type list disk and press enter

This will show the list of drives currently attached to PC, it will also show an asterix in the GPT column if drive is GPT.

legacy = mbr
UEFI = GPT

if it used legacy, this would help: https://windowsforum.com/threads/manually-rebuilding-a-windows-boot-partition-mbr.242046/

if it used Uefi, you could do this: https://www.tenforums.com/installation-upgrade/52837-moving-recreating-efi-partition.html#post698505

 

[techjohn]

Sorry for the delay.

It is UEFI for sure. All the drives on it were GPT.


I was so hopeful that link you shared would fix it. I did as it said, and every command appeared to succeed, but it still will not boot.

I even removed every single drive in the PC just to make sure there was no confusion, perhaps with the UEFI not following my boot order setup.

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Now when I try to boot it, I get this strange error:


Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:

1. Insert your windows installation disc and restart your computer

2. choose your language setting, and click "Next"

3. Click "Repair your computer"

Status 0xc0000017

Info: There isn't enough memory available to create a ramdisk device.

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Which is odd since this PC has 48 gigs of ram (odd number, I know, but I had two 8's, and then added two more 16's (All Corsair Vengence DDR of same speed)
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I've tried Startup Repair numerous times and it says it couldn't repair my PC.
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This is what my drive looks like. (It's Disk 1. Disk 2 is the USB stick that I booted AOMEI partition manager on to get this photo)

When I press F12 on boot (I have a Gigabyte Aorus motherboard) I only see the drive (Samsung 980 Pro) and now a UEFI boot partition to select.

 

[techjohn]

UPDATE:

I deleted the empty space partitions, and the 100mb partition I had created, and got the drive back to default. Then I followed the instructions step by step once again, and BAM... I have my computer back.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

 

[Colif]

Info: There isn't enough memory available to create a ramdisk device.

Do you have a ramdisk normally?
nevermind, it was the installer

Error code 0xc0000017 is normally attributed to bad memory sections that was marked by Windows built in Boot Configuration Data which block the use of Random Access Memory (RAM) as a temporary store for data.

To help solve your issue, please follow these steps:
Note: You need to be an administrator to do this procedure.

1. Go to the to search field at the bottom left and type Command Prompt.
2. Select Command Prompt.
3. Type bcdedit /enum all and press Enter.
4. A list of all memory locations labeled as "bad" will appear. This list can be removed or deleted.
5. You need to type bcdedit /deletevalue {badmemory} badmemorylist and hitenter. Please type the command accordingly.
6. Then you can exit and and restart your PC and perform the update.

Redirecting

I would suggest this: Try running memtest86 on each of your ram sticks, one stick at a time, up to 4 passes. Only error count you want is 0, any higher could be cause of errors. Remove/replace ram sticks with errors. Memtest is created as a bootable USB so that you don’t need windows to run it

how long you used two sets of ram together? it can cause odd problems.